After the flood

“If your ground regularly floods or gets boggy-wet in winter, then match your plants to those conditions”

This time last year Longmeadow was under water and it may well be again by the time you read this. Flooding is not unknown here, but what used to be an exceptional event, occurring once every five or six years, has now become part of the seasonal rhythm.

Climate change has changed the rules. The floods will get worse, be deeper, more frequent and last longer. But whereas a flooded house is an appalling disaster, a flooded garden is at worst a challenge and at best an opportunity for a bit of lateral thinking. The flood itself is not necessarily so bad, as long as you are prepared for the extent and timing of it. The Damp Garden, for example, got its name not from the pond – which was only made